Whisky's impact on environment

Being partial to the odd dram or two, I like to think that the production of whisky has a relatively benign environmental impact compared to most other alcoholic drinks. Is this true?S Castle, Bristol

We pay a lot of attention to alcohol's societal impacts, but little, if any, consideration is given to the impact our consumption of alcohol may be having on the planet. We might diligently recycle our wine bottles and cans, ponder about the food miles associated with a bottle of Shiraz shipped all the way from Australia, or worry about the impact of fertilisers used to grow barley, wheat, hops and grapes, but there is little research, it seems, that calculates the comparative environmental "footprint" of each type of alcoholic drink.

A "working paper" published earlier this year by the Food Climate Research Network, based at the University of Surrey, provides some interesting clues, though. The paper, written by Tara Garnett and entitled "The alcohol we drink and its contribution to the UK's greenhouse gas emissions", says that the alcohol sector is responsible for nearly 1.5% of the UK's greenhouse gas emissions, adding that "this is likely to be an underestimate". Even so, there are quite a few other emitting sectors of the economy in the queue ahead of alcohol that warrant our attention first.

But is there a big difference between types of alcohol? According to the paper, at first glance spirits such as whisky do indeed seem to have a relatively minor environmental impact compared with wine and beer. "While beer accounts for around 80.5% of alcohol consumption by volume, it emits only 62% of alcohol emissions," says Garnett. "Wine's volume share of alcohol consumption is 16% but its emissions contribute over 27% to the alcohol total. For spirits, the total volume of consumption is 3.5%, while its share of emissions is 6.7%."

But judging them by volume seems an unfair way to make a comparison. After all, how many people do you know who pop down to the pub for a pint of whisky? (OK, it's probably best not to answer that.) Judged by units of alcohol rather than by volume, Garnett says it isn't really possible to differentiate. (The paper does highlight the practice whereby some Scotch whisky is now shipped abroad for bottling only to be shipped back to the UK for consumption.) Overall, the message is that reducing alcohol consumption benefits both the health of the nation, as well as the environment. I'll drink to that.